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Robot Localization Using Ceiling Fiducials

This code was developed to allow a robot to localize itself in an
indoor environment where fiducial tags are located on the ceiling.

Installation

This code is destributed as a ROS package. The new ROS packaging
format called catkin is used. We are currently testing against the
"Groovy" release of ROS. ROS currently only installs on the various
Ubuntu Linux distributions (e.g. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc.)

Install GCC 4.7 or Higher

The second step is to get to a version of the GCC compiler suite
that is at revision of 4.7 or higher. The reason for this is because
the Fiducials code is written in the newer C11 (for 2011) revision of
the C programming language. The GCC revisions 4.6 and below do not
support C11.

To figure out which version you have. Type:

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential

to make sure that you have a compiler. Next, type:

gcc --version

and you will get something that looks like:

gcc (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.7.2-2ubuntu1) 4.7.2
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

In this particular example, GCC is at revision 4.7.2 which is what
you need. If it says 4.6.x or less, you need to get a newer GCC compiler.

Install InkScape and Doxygen

InkScape is used to convert fiducial tags from .svg Scalable Vector
Graphics format into .pdf Portable Document Format so that they can
be printed out on a laser printer. To install InkScape:

sudo apt-get install -y inkscape

Doxygen is the documentation generation program that reads the various
source files an prints more readable documenation. To install Doxygen:

sudo apt-get install -y doxygen

Install Pt. Grey SDK

There are a bunch of Pt. Gray Flycapture-MV cameras kicking
around. These are 648 x 480 USB monochrome cameras with a
global shutter. The global shutter makes them much less immune
to motion blur. For now, we are standardizing on this camera
for testing the fiducial software.

Evenutally, we will make the software build optionally with
or without the Pt. Grey device drivers. However, until then,
it is necessary to download the Pt. Grey Software Develoment Kit.
Please follow the following steps:

Demo

will load the dojo_3.6mm-15.pnm file and do fiducial recognition
on it. pg_3_6.txt is the lens correction coeeficients. Move the
cursor over the window that pops up and click on the image. This
moves the input focus to the Demo program. Click on '+' to
increment one step through processing and '-' to decrement one
step through processing.